"At 13:48 on April 20th, the production of carbon-14 irradiated targets began to be withdrawn!" With this command, carbon-14 targets were successfully extracted from the Qinshan nuclear power heavy water reactor unit under the China National Nuclear Corporation, a subsidiary of China Nuclear Power Investment Holdings. This marks the first time China has used a commercial nuclear reactor to mass-produce carbon-14 isotopes, effectively breaking the domestic reliance on imported carbon-14 isotopes and achieving comprehensive domestic production of carbon-14.
The target assembly has been removed from the reactor site. Image courtesy of CNNC Group.
Carbon-14 isotope finds widespread application in agriculture, chemistry, medicine, biology, and other fields, holding significant medical and scientific value. Its main applications include detection of Helicobacter pylori, pharmacokinetic studies, and beta-ray environmental monitoring systems. Previously, China's supply of carbon-14 relied heavily on imports, with high prices and unreliable supply, severely constraining downstream industrial development.
With the completion of the carbon-14 target assembly removal, after backend processing, supply to the market is set to begin by the end of 2024. The output will fully meet domestic demand, significantly boosting the development of China's isotope application industry. This will further establish a sound research and development system for commercial irradiation production of isotopes through collaboration between industry, academia, and research, driving and guiding the research and development of high-tech nuclear drugs and nuclear medical industries for downstream medical enterprises, providing strong support for the development of the domestic isotope application industry.
The Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, located in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, is currently the only nuclear power plant in China with a commercial heavy water reactor. Compared to the current method of carbon-14 production relying mainly on research reactors, the high neutron flux and large irradiation space in the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant's heavy water reactor unit ensure stable supply and safe production of radioactive isotopes. This does not affect the unit's power generation capacity and safe operation, and the production costs are lower.
Furthermore, during the removal of the carbon-14 target assembly, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant also simultaneously conducted the installation and commissioning of irradiation production equipment for isotopes at the top of the reactor. Once operational, this equipment will have the capability for large-scale irradiation production of isotopes such as lutetium-177 and yttrium-90.
The only heavy water reactor unit in China (Qinshan Phase III). Image provided by CNNC Group.
